Angels and Demons: Southern Cross Soloists

Angels and Demons: Southern Cross Soloists

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Posted 2017-03-10 by John Andrewfollow

Sun 05 Mar 2017

Angels and Demons: Southern Cross Soloists



Damien Beaumont was an urbane and mischievous compère, adding delightful gobbets of background information and setting the moods for music ranging from the melodic to the macabre.



The Southern Cross Soloists are clearly in love with their craft, and had set themselves a challenging selection ranging from the tried and tested crowd-pleasers to a completely new work, demanding much from performer and audience.

And it was clear that the audience appreciated their courage and commitment.



Partially due to Damien Beaumont's excellent introductions, partially due to the passion and engagement of the instrumentalists, partially because of the staging – we were actually sitting in tiers on the actual stage and the music enveloped us – there was a very special sense of involvement with the musicians.

Possibly there was unevenness, with some selections working somewhat better than others.

But that really wasn't the point.

Risks were being taken to showcase a wide variety of music and of moods.

Having a gall-bladder operation (without anaesthetic) set to agonising music and with graphic commentary was unforgettable, and the body language and gasps and groans of the audience indicated that, willingly or unwillingly, they felt the pain.

Never disappointing, some choices worked superbly.



In particular (perhaps fortunately, because of the primacy and the latency effect) your ageing reviewer particularly liked the opening "Song of the Angel" by Taverner, and was swept away by the virtuosity and verve of the last piece "Dance of the Dead".

The standing ovation was well merited.

__________________________________________

Tavener: Song of the Angel
Marais: Le Tourbillon (The Tornado)
Marais: Le Tableau de l'Opération de la Taille (The Gallbladder Operation)
Mozart: Don Giovanni Overture K.527
Mozart: Adagio from Serenade No. 10 K.361
Smith: Angels and Demons (World Premiere)
Saint-Saëns: Danse Macabre Op. 40
Rachmaninov: Adagio from Symphony No. 2
Liszt Totentanz (Dance of the Dead): Paraphrase on Dies Irae S.126

#classical_music
#march
!date 05/03/2017 -- 05/03/2017
%wnbrisbane
106860 - 2023-06-12 12:43:08

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